The Past
by HummingBird742
Summary: Maeve was mad. Wait. That was an understatement. She was pissed. How dare he do this! This is the backstory of the villain. The one who holds the power of life... and death. But what will she do with it? (This is my own take on Maeve. I am working on a sequel. Slowly. Rated T 'cause I'm me.)
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

A crack between worlds, a portal—a wrydgate.

Creatures of evil—of darkness, of pain, of despair—came through the crack.

Only fire can harm _them_. Only fire _they_ fear... except the kings. _They_ _fear_ _nothing_. The kings can only be banished back to _their_ dark world, or another. There is no way to harm _them_ in this world, but in _their_ own... it is why _their_ world is of ice and darkness and cold.

There is only _one_ bloodline that can banish them, _one_ heir that can save their world.

One must start at the beginning to understand.

Before the dark creatures—the Valg, this world named them—others came through.

They became known as gods, for they were powerful. More so than any creature of this world. They were said to have been there since the dawn of time, the dawn of this world.

But some knew better, for they themselves were there when the gate opened and let the otherworldly beings into their home.

Only one is left now.

Someone had to open the gate—from both sides.

Someone who knew about the others—the gods.

Someone reckless—wild enough.

Someone who didn't care what _they_ would do to this world.

Someone so deeply broken that _they_ would do anything to bring someone back.

Someone called…


	2. Chapter 1

I put a note at the bottom of the chapter, but I thought I should warn you first: 1)Any large gaps mean a different point of view, or there was a time skip. 2)Please remember that this was a short story for a school project, so it does move quickly. Like I said before, I am planning to do a sequel and I thank anyone who takes the time to read my story. Bye!

 **Chapter 1**

Maeve stalked down the hall, snorting at her sister's stupidity. If she _wanted_ to be assassinated, this was the _perfect_ way to do it. Invite her court to her home, a court who despised their family—their kind.

She was almost to Mora's room when a group of courtiers turned the corner ahead. They were chatting about a new handsome court member that had just showed up. Her sister had _apparently_ invited him here personally. She scowled. She'd find her sister, then find this… this… demon and _personally_ tell him what she thought of him. Getting an invitation from her sister, most likely through threatening her!

Finally, one of the courtiers looked up and saw her stalking down the hall. Their faces paled and their little, pathetic, trembling leader spoke,

"Wh-wh-what are you d-doing here, y-y-your Ma-ma-majesty?"

Pitiful, these humans. She didn't bother to stoop to respond to them.

She kept walking, turning right at the corner, past the trembling courtier and to her sister's rooms.

Her _darling_ sister didn't know she was here. Why should she, when Maeve had only learned about this court visit through her spy network? No, Mora didn't know she was here. Because Mora knew that Maeve would disapprove of this event and that she would do everything in her power to stop it. She would have succeeded too.

If her sister had bothered to tell her.

But she didn't, so Maeve came alone, without guards and only a ship of common fae to protect her sister. Maeve's other sister, Mab, wasn't as stupid, but she was kind and fair and didn't believe that anyone would harm her in her own house. At least she didn't object to Maeve having spies in her court, to keep watch of any threats.

 _She_ understood the risk of being Queen. But stupid, cunning, selfish Mora didn't. Mora was reckless—a danger to herself and others. And yet, somehow, _somehow_ , she became queen of this stupid country. Ludovico, they called it. The island _and_ the country. A stupid name for both.

She reached the outside doors to her sister's rooms, and with her sharp hearing, heard Mora talking to someone: a man's voice that she had not heard while visiting the court before. It must be the new court member.

"I've already told you, our bargain is almost over. You either pay up, or you lose my end of the deal."

"And I've already told you, she's not coming. She's not here, nor will she ever be. And if she does come, she'll somehow find out about our deal and kill us both, or she'll not find out." The man started to say something, then stopped, as if he was listening for something. Maeve then realized he had heard her lurking by the doorway. Mora immediately shut her mouth and listened as well.

Maeve stopped her spying and walked up to the large double doors, knowing deep in her heart that whatever was beyond them was not of this world, it was not right. She slammed the doors open anyway, calling for Mora to come greet her dear older sister.

The doors opposite Maeve opened and Mora, her face as pale as snow, walked in to the room and snapped,

"What are _you_ doing here?!"

"Mora, how nice to see you. When were you going to tell me about this _gathering_ , little sister?" Maeve purred the words at Mora's sickeningly pale face, and felt glee at the fact that it was getting whiter by the minute.

"I didn't think I needed to tell you, _sister_ , since I knew your spies," Mora spat the words with spite, "would find out and immediately tell you."

"I'm glad to know I have such a _smart_ , _cunning_ , _devil_ of a little sister. So, do tell, _Mora_ , why you decided to have your court visit _now_? You knew I would be occupied with the festivities in Wendlyn, yet if you wanted me to come, why not have it _next_ week when I'm not busy?" She paused for breath, but did not give Mora time to let the words sink in.

"One more question, who is this new court member I've heard about? You know, some people are so ignorant, they can't tell when they're being watched." If possible, Mora paled even more at the mention of the new noble, yet red bloomed on her cheeks at the unspoken threat in her words.

"Maeve, if you so much as _look_ wrong at a single member of my court, I will cut you into little pieces, burn your body and bury the ashes where no one will ever find them."

 _Finally_ , a response from her little sister.

"If you carry through with that threat, I think you'll find _all_ of Wendlyn's fleet on your shores. But I doubt that you could best me anyway. Even if I'm poisoned, drugged or whatever you would do to incapacitate me." Mora sighed,

"Can we stop fighting? It gets old quickly."

"Of course, _darling_ sister. I'll retire to my old rooms."

"Fine." She said with a bite in her words, "If you wish to come to the court meetings, they start tomorrow." Without another word, Mora turned and stalked out of the room, shutting the doors behind her.

The man stared at her from the rust coloured rooftop. Even though his task was to kill those related to her by blood, he could not deny that they were beautiful. The two were opposite sides of a coin, one dark, and one light. Brown so dark it's almost black, black like his soul. Yet white so bright it was like moonlight. How could two people from the same blood be so different, yet both so beautiful?

The dark haired one would die first. She had the gift of fire, she could destroy his minions. But the light haired one… she could banish him and the other kings.

But only _one_. He felt like she was on the edge, so close to falling off the cliff. If he could make her tip just a little… it would destroy her.

So the dark haired one would die first. He knew from listening to them talk this afternoon that it would break her. He needed her to break. He also needed to warn the other kings of this new threat. He sighed, thinking. Perhaps… perhaps… he could experiment with them first.

Start working on the next stage of the plan. He started smiling underneath his hood.

This would be fun.

A week later and almost no progress had been made on any of the topics discussed in the meetings.

She sighed. Why couldn't Mora just listen to her when she suggested what she should do? Even the fae hating lords had agreed it was the best option. But no, Mora just had to disagree with her. It made her so mad…

She had met the court member in some of the meetings, but did not yet know his name. No one else seemed to know either. They told her he just showed up one day and went straight to Mora's rooms. She hadn't heard him talk yet either, so she couldn't see if his voice matched the one she had heard in Mora's rooms. She had no doubt that Mora made a deal to have her killed. She just didn't know what was offered to her in return. And if they wanted her dead, why not also kill her sister?

She left her room with her weapons and headed to the council chamber. When she entered the room, all the mindless chatter went silent. She stalked to the foot of the dais and stood there, waiting for her sister to arrive.

Ten minutes later, she still wasn't there.

An hour passed.

Finally, she gave up on waiting. She walked down from the throne and started towards her sister's room. She slammed the first set of doors open and called for Mora.

There was no response.

She walked to the other doors and put her ear to it. Mora's rooms—she knew from experience—were a maze, meant to confuse any would-be assassins from finding Mora.

She listened hard. Not a sound leaked into her ears. She sighed. She would actually have to go find her sister in the labyrinth of hallways and rooms. So she opened the doors and started to follow Mora's most recent scent, all the way to her sister's bedroom.

She knocked on the door, still _trying_ to be polite.

"Are you in there Mora?" She got no response. So she shifted into her animal form. A beautiful, although smaller than normal due to the size of the hallway, was a gleaming, silver dragon. She backed up a few feet and then ran forward and slammed into the door with all her might. The door shattered into splinters and she stumbled into the room, shifting back to her fae form before she took in the room.

She smelled it before she saw it.

Keeping her eyes closed, she sniffed the air. And she stumbled backwards, aiming to lean against the wall.

She opened her eyes and took in the sight.

Blood.

Everywhere.

She looked at the bed. Mora lay on top of the covers, her throat slit ear to ear. Blood still gushed out of the wound and coated the bed with bright red blood. She looked down at the rest of Mora's body. Little designs were carved into her skin, all of them drawing blood. Little swirls that reminded her of fire. Little sun symbols on her eyelids. She heard as members of the court arrived, as some of them vomited their breakfast up. She just stared as others called the guards.

No one approached her.

No one dared.

When the guards stepped towards Mora's body, as if to pick her up, they were dead before they took two steps. Yet still, she did not move. She just stared. Someone finally dared to touch her.

She turned to look at them, and her eyes widened. In the servants' arms was a child.

A/N- I know that I didn't put a note on the last chapter, so I decided to put one here. thanks to everyone and anyone who even looked at the story! I really appreciate it. I'm a bit new to the Fanfiction website, so I apologize if somethings wrong or anything like that. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!

-HummingBird742

Please keep in mind that I LOVE leaving cliff hangers in my writing.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The child was asleep, and, frankly, she was surprised that the nursemaid had enough courage to come near her. She had a small feeling, from somewhere lost inside her, that the servant was waiting for her to speak. So she did.

"What is the new court member's name?" The servant's face paled.

"I don't know, majesty. My job is to watch over this child," the servant was trembling now.

"Whose child is it?" the servant backed up, fearing her wrath.

Or her second form.

Probably both.

"I-i-it's her Majesty's child. I w-was the only mi-midwife at her birth be-because she wanted it to be k-kept from you... I'm s-so sorry, y-y-your majesty."

The rage must have shown in her eyes because the servant opened Maeve's arms and put the baby in them.

Then she left the room.

She looked down at the child, wondering if she already had a name, or if she should just name it herself.

She called for the servant. When she asked what the child's name was, the servant merely told her that the child had no name, and that she, personally, would name the child after her mother.

But Maeve wouldn't do that. She didn't want anyone to know about this child. So, she decided on Jade, for the girls' bright green eyes.

Just like her mothers'.

Tears glittered in her eyes.

Why did the world hate her?

Too many times had her loved ones been taken from her. Firstly, her parents, her mother dying while birthing another child and the child dying as well. Then her father went off to battle; he didn't come back. Then her mate. The mate who she had wiped from the memory of the world. Now her sister.

But she would not let the child die. She gave Jade to the nurse maid, told her the child's new name and told her to care for the child as if it were her own. She didn't mean to say what she would do next, but it slipped out anyway.

She was going to destroy the castle.

The servant looked at her with sadness in her eyes and told her to wait for at least one day, so that those close to her would be able to offer prayers to the gods so Mora might leave the world peacefully.

She told the servant no. That not one person in this pathetic excuse for a country deserved to live after letting her sister die. The servant left the room and did not return.

Before she left she told her that she would head to Wendlyn and that she would wait for her to get there. However long it took. The servant could tell what Maeve was going to do. And promised not to tell anyone. So Maeve began her own prayers. To Mora herself, begging for her forgiveness.

To all her beloved, her lost mate, her parents. To all she knew. Begging them to forgive her.

She didn't think that they ever would.

She was running down the hall, begging to the gods to protect the child. She didn't tell anyone where she was going, whose baby it was or why she was running. She didn't think Maeve would forgive her if the baby died. So she ran right to the docks, to Maeve's own ship. And she told them to go. Told them that the island might as well be dead, told them to go. And to wipe this place from their memory. For it wouldn't exist past this day.

Maeve would wipe this from the world, just as she was going to wipe the knowledge of her mate, and what truly happened to her sister.

They left.

They didn't look back.

Maeve walked towards the center of the island. She no longer felt anything. She was empty. She was gone. Mora never really cared about her. But Maeve felt the bond between them. They were two of a set of triplets, which almost never happened, not for the fae.

Mab was the third triplet. Mab, who would never look at her with any worth in her. Not after today. After today, she was going hunting. For anyone named Tenebris. She had finally found out the noble's name.

Darkness, it meant. In the language of these people. A doomed language now. No one but she would remember it after today.

She planned to get to the islands center, where a mountain sat, before midnight. She would climb, or fly, to the top of the mountain and unleash her magic on them all. As soon as she had seen her sister's dead body, her sub-conscious had started plummeting down into her well of power.

She was still going. She had never fully used up her power. But she had also never gone past a certain point in her power. She wasn't afraid of having a burn out. She was not afraid of using too much power, too quickly. She didn't care if it destroyed her. Perhaps she will wipe it out of her own memory as well as the worlds'.

She had reached the bottom of the mountain by now. She shifted, wanting to use more power up before midnight. She flew upward, each wingbeat shaking the ground below. At the top of the mountain, she could hear someone waiting. Hopefully Tenebris, the traitor.

Sure enough, atop the mountain sat a man.

But not.

He had bright golden eyes, eyes from another world. She started to land, but then shifted back to her fae form right before she touched the ground, now standing before him.

"Do you want to know who I am, faerie?" he asked her.

"No, I already know. You are a valg king. If your eyes didn't give it away, your scent definitely does."

"How do you know the scent of the valg, Faerie?"

"I know everything." Maeve smirked at him.

"Do you? Do you know why we want you triplets dead?"

She gave him a blank stare.

"I didn't think so. We wanted Mora dead because she had the gift of fire, which is the only thing that can kill our underlings in this world. We want you dead because your gift can banish us from this world. For a price though."

"Why would you tell me your weakness?" She asked, boredom one her face.

"Because I'm going to kill you now. You are broken with the loss of your sister. Broken things don't work." She stared emotionlessly at him.

"If that is what you truly believe, then kill me. I dare you." He stood up stalking toward her like he was already sure of his victory. Oh, these kings. So painfully ignorant of what had happened two hundred years ago. When she had broken. She didn't even know how she held on.

Still he kept walking towards her, becoming just a little cautious as she made no move to draw her weapons. She wouldn't need weapons for this kill. He had said that her power could banish him. For a price. Well, whatever price she had to pay, she would pay it, as long as her sister's murderer was punished.

Some idea seemed to light up in his mind as he smiled wickedly. Probably thinking of some cruel way to torture her more. He reached into a pocket in his cloak, and pulled out a sliver of black stone.

It reeked of wrongness.

Her very blood was singing to get away from it, from him. She focused her attention on the stone. Faster then she could react, he pulled a dagger from its hidden sheath on his arm and cut right into her belly. He then proceeded to stick the stone in the cut. Then to vanish.

She doubled over, clutching her stomach as she felt the stones' power rush through her blood like ice. Her body automatically healed over the wound and she cursed at her stupidity.

It didn't matter anyway. She was going to destroy this island. Then she would find this demon and make him pay. So she unleashed all the power she had gathered. As the power rushed out of her, obliterating anything in its path, she felt it touch against the stone in her stomach. Her magic recoiled, forming a barrier against the stone. Interesting.

She turned her attention back to her magic and she started directing it across the island. Her magic was life. Nature, earth, whatever you wanted to call it. Its true power wasn't life though. It was the death that came after.

For if you age too much, you die.

So she sent out her power from that bottomless well. And she hoped it killed her too.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

She had just finished putting Jade to sleep when she heard the panicked shouts of the sailors. She ran out of the cabin and towards the first sailor she saw.

"What's happening?!" she called. The sailor turned towards her with a grim look.

"Maeve." He replied, turning away from her.

"What do you mean?" She looked back towards the island, seeing that it was now shrouded in mist. Pure, black colored mist.

"Is that…" she trailed off.

It was pure destruction; pure death.

She could feel her face being coated in ice at the enormous well of power that leaked from the island. There was no way—no way could anyone have survived that power.

She was going to be sick. Leaning over the railing of the ship, she retched again and again, until she was sure her stomach had left her body. She looked towards the dawn on the horizon, then looked towards the island. Where the island had been was now only a swirling vortex.

The island had been completely and utterly demolished.

It no longer existed—it was gone, permanently.


	5. Epilogue

Hello! My sister just told me that the Prologue was messed up so I hope I fixed that! This is the last part to the story but I am planning to do a sequel. I know I've said that before but I just wanted to clarify. Also, if you want to base anything off any of my stories, go ahead. If you do though, I would love it if you could leave a link so I could read it! That's all I had to say, so please enjoy! (I'm sorry its so short.)

 **Epilogue**

The dragon soared higher.

She did not remember her given name. She did not care.

The dragon was the only one left of its kind.

Perhaps she was the only one that had ever existed. She circled back to above the vortex. She didn't remember it being there before.

Perhaps she had created it.

Perhaps she did not. She did not care.

She left the vortex after circling it one last time. She began to remember a face. A face she did not recognize, but felt that she needed to find.

She searched, for the brown haired, green eyed woman.

She never found her.


End file.
